Swelled coupling and bit used in diamond-drilling.



N. E. JENKINS. SWIILLED COUPLING AND BIT USED IN DIAMOND DRILLING.

APPLICATION FILED ocT.'2, Isis.

Patented Feb; 15, 1916.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 50., WASHINGTON, D. c.

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NATHANIEL EDWARD JENKINS, OF GGLDFIELD, NEVADA, ASSIGNOR- OF ONE-HALF T0 WILLIAM J. MITCHELL, 0F SPOKANE, \R ASHING'ION.

SVJELLEI) COUPLING AND BIT USED IN DIAMOND-DRILLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb.i5,i916.

Application filed October 2, 1913. Serial No. 793,009.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHANIEL EDWARD JENKINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Goldfield, in the county of Esmeralda and State of Nevada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Swelled Coupling and 'Bit Used in Diamond-Drilling; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to certain novel and useful improvements in couplings and bits adapted to be employed in connection with core drills of the type used by miners for obtaining a core or sample of the strata of earth through which the drill passes, such drills being usually equipped with diamonds for making the cut, and are known as diamond drills. j r

In the present instance my invention is adapted especially for use in connection with a diamond drill of the double tube type,

that is to say one wherein the inner tube or. core barrel is arranged concentrlcally with,

but spaced apart from the outer tube or casing,this core barrel being adapted to receive and hold the core cut'by the drill bit. During the drilling operation a stream of water is passed down through the drill to the diamond cutting bit, a portion of said water then passing around the bit and up the outside of the drill, while a smaller portion of the water returns up through the core barrel or inside tube and assists in floating or lifting the core within the barrel.

in carrying out my invention it is my purpose to provide a drill coupling'and bit by means of which a straight hole may be drilled through the ground irrespective of the character or formation of such ground and the depth to which the drill is penetrated.

With these and other objects of similar nature in view, my invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts set forth in and falling within the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of my improved coupling and bit. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through the coupling and bit and also showing the inner tube or core barrel and the outer tube or casing at the top of the coupling, in order to illustrate the application of the invention, this view being taken through the coupling and bit on the line 22 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a plan view. Fig. 4 is a view in side elevation of the bit. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of the coupling, the bit being removed, this view being along the line 55 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, and especially to Fig. 2, the letter A indicates the lower portion of the outside tube of the casing of the drill and B indicates the lower portion of the inform no part of the present invention, but

are simply shown in Fig. 2 to illustrate the manner of connecting the present invention in working relation with the drill. My improved coupling which is enlarged or swelled and, therefore, hereinafter termed the swelled coupling, is indicated as an entirety by the letter C, while D designates the drill bit at the lower end of the coupling. The upper end of the cylindrical wall 5 of the coupling is shouldered as at 8 so that an annular flange 9 is provided, which is exteriorly threaded as at 10 so that this flange may screw into the bottom of the casing A, as shown in Fig. 2, the lower end of the casing resting upon the shoulder 8. The upper end portion of the flange 9 is formed with an interior shoulder 11 on which is adapted to rest the lower end of the core barrel B, this core barrel preferably forming a ground joint with the shoulder 11. The coupling C is formed with a series of longitudinal or vertical bores or water passages 4 which at their upper ends extend through the flange 9 and communicate with the space between the casing A and the core barrel B. Into the lower end of the coupling is screwed the threaded shank 3 of the annular bit body 1, the bottom face of which has set therein the usual diamonds cl. At their lower ends the vertical water passages communicate with and discharge'the water in a spray through the perforations 2 formed in the flange 12 of the bit, as is clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Now, in actual practice, the cross diameter of the coupling C is greater than the cross, diameter of the major portion of the cross diameter of the casing A, the only point at which the cross diameter of this casing equals the cross diameter C ginrr being at its point of connection with the coupling. As the coupling is substantially flow up the outside of the drill, so I provide the continuous spiral water grooves to which run along the outside wall of the bit and the swelled coupling, as shown in Fig. 1.

From the above description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction and operation of my invention will be readily apparent. Under actual working conditions the water passing down through the drill flows from the space between the core barrel B and the casing A into the longitudinal water passages 4: and thence through the perforations 2 in the flange 12 of the bit into the interior of the bit. The greater part of the water, usually about eighty per cent, passes down through the bore of the bit and around the bottom face 6 thereof and past the diamonds, and thence up the outside spiral water grooves 10 and between the drill and the wall of the hole to the surface of the ground. A portion of the water, or about twenty per cent. is forced by back pressure up through the core barrel B, lifting or floatingthe core in the barrel until the top end of the core is elevated to a point near the top of the core barrel. As the water passes the diamonds at the drill bit it washes away the groundings or particles of earth, keeping the bit free and clear from clogand at the same time floating the core as just mentioned.

On the outside of the swelled coupling I place diamonds 7, which when the drill is in operation act to ream the'hole cut by the bottom diamonds (Z and thereby dressing and clearing the wall of the hole so that a succeeding drill being dropped into the hole will not encounter a rough protruding surface which might injure the diamonds of such succeeding drill. The swelled coupling acts as a protection to the bit, in that it maintains the diameter of the hole after the bit loses its original gage and protects the bit from working into fitchered positidhs, which oftentimesresults in the loss of diamonds,

in an attempt to extract the bit from such positions.

While I have herein shown and described one particular embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to all the precise details of construction herein set forth by way of illustratiom'as modification and variation maybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a tubular coupling member having an annular externally threaded flange at its'upper end forming an external shoulder at its point of junction with the body of the member, said flange being adapted to be threaded into a tube, an annular internal shoulder adjacent the upperend of the flange against which the end of a second tube is adapted to bear, said member having a series of longitudinally extending water passages formed in the wall thereof, the upper ends of said passages extending longitudinally of the wall of the flange, and a drillingbit having a member threaded into the lower end of the coupling member and having a flange provided with perforations communicating with said water passages through which water is adapted to pass from the water passages ofthe coupling member into the bore of the bit member.

2. The combination with a tubular cou pling member having an annular threaded flange at one end thereof, said flange being of less cross diameter than the cross diameter of the body of the coupling member whereby a shoulder is formed at the junction of the flange and the body of the member, said flange having an annular in ternal shoulder upon which a tube is adapted to rest, said flange being adapted to be threaded into a second tube, a drill bit having a member threaded into the opposite end of the coupling member and having an annular perforated flange, said coupling member having longitudinal water pass sages formed therein adapted to communicate at their lower ends with the perforations in the drill bit whereby water passing through the water passages of the coupling member pass into the bore of the drill bit.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' j NATHANIEL EDWARD JENKINS.

Witnesses:

P. J. MILLER, E. C. PERSON.

Copies-of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

